Saturday, June 5, 2010

Betting on the Bad Guys
Cartoonist Scott Adams's personal road to riches: Put your money on the companies that you hate the most
by Scott Adams
Wall Street Journal

When I heard that BP was destroying a big portion of Earth, with no serious discussion of cutting their dividend, I had two thoughts: 1) I hate them, and 2) This would be an excellent time to buy their stock. And so I did. Although I should have waited a week.

Digital media have made creating and disseminating text, sound, and images cheap, easy and global. The bulk of publicly available media is now created by people who understand little of the professional standards and practices for media.

The Roman philosopher Seneca may have put it best 2,000 years ago: "To be everywhere is to be nowhere." Today, the Internet grants us easy access to unprecedented amounts of information. But a growing body of scientific evidence suggests that the Net, with its constant distractions and interruptions, is also turning us into scattered and superficial thinkers.

COLUMBIA, Mo. — When Allison Frisch goes shopping this summer for furnishings to decorate her freshman dorm room at Stephens College, she will be looking for a comforter for herself — and a matching doggie bed for her roommate.

Louis Coleman is director of sales for Vasari, a Guthrie, Okla., business that recently began selling residential car lifts. Hydraulic lifts in multicar garages are nothing new, but what makes Vasari’s system special is that instead of raising one car above another, it lowers one car into a subterranean chamber, allowing another car to be parked on top of the lift’s canopy (which now serves as the floor of the garage). Prices start at around $40,000, installed. The company's web site

Thursday, June 3, 2010

IT was an unseasonably hot Saturday in April, and the three dozen terrariums on display in a booth at the Brooklyn Flea were sweating, the moisture turning into beads on their glass containers. Katy Maslow and Michelle Inciarrano, who were selling the miniature gardens, answered questions from passers-by. An antique magnifying glass sat nearby, for those who wanted a closer look.

Writer Karen McQuestion spent nearly a decade trying without success to persuade a New York publisher to print one of her books. In July, the 49-year-old mother of three decided to publish it herself, online.

When Peggy Bowditch drives to her summer home in Maine each May, she ships her clothes by UPS so she can load the back of her station wagon with seedlings, including three trays of Himalayan blue poppies.

With his jeans, white trainers and stripy top, Bob is every inch the well-dressed 6-year-old. He's standing in the middle of a hotel parking lot and, scarily, I'm driving straight at him. Instead of hitting the brakes, I put my foot down on the accelerator. With only about 10 yards to go, a row of red lights flashes across my windshield, and there's an urgent, high-pitched beeping sound. An instant later, I am jerked forward as the brakes slam on automatically and the car screeches to a halt just short of Bob's stomach.

Washington, DC -- Today the Federal Communications Commission released the resultsof a survey on the consumer broadband experience. The survey found that 80 percent ofbroadband users in the United States do not know the speed of their broadband connection.Test your broadband speed

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

The man standing outside the Porta Santa Anna Gate of the Vatican wearing a blue Gap shirt and none-too-expertly pressed Muji trousers could easily pass as an academic, or the cultural correspondent of an obscure television channel.

This astonishingly unnerving photograph was posted today on the Flickr.com feed of the Guatemalan goverment and shows a seemingly bottomless sinkhole that opened up on Sunday in Guatemala City as a swath of Central America was drenched by tropical storm Agatha. Click here for the high-resolution version, if you dare. The storm only briefly hit tropical storm strength on Saturday as it came ashore from the Pacific Ocean over the weekend, but the death toll had risen to 115 at last count. Here’s a street-level view.

Monday, May 31, 2010

After a towing company hauled Justin Kurtz’s car from his apartment complex parking lot, despite his permit to park there, Mr. Kurtz, 21, a college student in Kalamazoo, Mich., went to the Internet for revenge.

For the last month, Americans have watched with growing horror as a huge leak on a BP oil rig has poured millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. As I wrote on Sunday in the Week in Review section of The Times, there is also shock that technology has so far not been able to control it.

But it is important to remember that this mammoth polluting event, so extraordinary here, is not so unusual in some parts of the world.

About This Site

Approximately 3-6 items get posted every day. Subjects range across the spectrum. Items are taken from the best sources including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Christian Science Monitor, private sources and government publications. Click on the title for the full article. All items are stand alone so feel to read one or several any time you wish.

About Me

I have a B.A. in Political Science and a Master's Degree in Public Administration (M.P.A.) from Brigham Young University. In addition, I have a Ph.D. in Public Administration and Public Affairs from Virginia Tech. I just finished up another Master's degree. This one is in Library Science (M.L.S.) from Emporia State University in Kansas.
In my public administration studies I emphasized administrative ethics and administrative law. In library school I emphasized reference, especially using government documents and legal materials.